Eccentric connecting means between a dip tube and an aerosol valve



0d. 14, 1969 R, A. svssquz ECCENTRIC CONNECTING MEANS BETWEEN A DIP TUB AND AN AEROSOL VALVE Filed Aug. 8, 1967 1\'\ 'E.\"TOR ROGER EVESQUE BY I f ATTOR/VE V5 United States Patent ECCENTRIC CONNECTING MEANS BETWEEN A DIP TUBE AND AN AEROSOL VALVE Roger A. Evesque, Cary, lll., assignor to Seaquist Valve Company, Division of Pittsburgh Railways, Cary, 11].,

a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 8, 1967, Ser. No. 659,146 Int. Cl. F16] 55/00, 35/00 U.S. Cl. 28527 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adaptor with an off-center well and preferably an off-center thickened wall whereby a dip tube may be more easily attached to aerosol valves in high speed assembly even though the valve is off-center.

This invention relates, in general, to an adaptor for an aerosol valve, and in particular, to an adaptor having an off-center well and preferably an off-center thickened wall to permit dip tube assembly upon the valve even though the valve is offcenter.

In U.S. Patent 3,315,693, there is disclosed an improved anyside-up valve or attachment for an existing aerosol valve comprising a by-pass chamber in communication with the chamber of the valve body and having a flow check means therein whereby product flow is controlled. It is preferably positioned adjacent to the valve body and has its upper end immediately below the upper inside surface of the aerosol can whereby substantially complete emptying of the can is enabled.

While the disclosed anyside-up valve is extremely functional for its intended purpose, it does present an assembly problem. This is due to the fact that the dip tube attachment tail thereof is offset from the center line of the valve. Presently available high speed assembly machines are not adapted to affix the dip tube to a valve when the center line of the valve, or the center line of an attachment, is offset from the center line of the tube holder. Accordingly, the valve must be indexed in order to affix the dip tube to it. This can be quite expensive in high speed equipment. A similar problem exists with other valves and valve attachments.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved aerosol valves having a construction whereby dip tubes can be more easily and quickly aflixed to them.

Another object is to provide improved means for afiixing a dip tube to an aerosol valve which for some reason has to be tubed off the center line of the valve.

Still another object is to provide improved means for affixing dip tubes to aerosol valves offset from the center line thereof so as to eliminate the need for indexing the valves.

A still further object is to provide improved means for affixing dip tubes to aerosol valves whereby various size outer diameter dip tubes can be afiixed to an aerosol valve.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

Accordingly the invention comprises a valve body for an aerosol valve or an adaptor body for attachment to an existing aerosol valve. Each body has an off-center dip tube well on its bottom end. The well has at least one tapering side wall so as to form a funnel-like opening into the well. The tapering side wall is also preferably thickened to effect a center line coinciding with the center line of the valve. The upper end portion is provided with a bore to receive the valve or to be attached to the tail of the valve if it is in the form of an attachment. The bore is in fluid communication with the well. With this construction,

the need to index the valve of the attachment in order to affix a dip tube to the inside or outside is eliminated.

The dip tube is inserted into the well by simply advancing the tube toward the funnel opening. As it encounters the openings tapered surface, the dip tube is deflected into the well. A retaining ring or a wedge-shaped opening is provided to secure the tube to the well.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side plan view of an aerosol valve, partially sectionalized to illustrate the off-center dip tube well thereof, and the manner in which a dip tube is affixed to the valves;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken along lines 33 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are side plan views of the aerosol valve, partially sectionalized to illustrate the manner in which a dip tube is inserted within the off-center dip tube well thereof.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown an aerosol valve comprising a valve body 12, with a tubular valve stem 14 which is retained therein for reciprocal 0r tilt operation, in the well-known manner. The valve body 12 is generally molded as one piece, preferably of any suitable plastic material, such as polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, and polyester resin. It may be converted to an anyside-up valve by affiixing an anysideup attachment to the dip tube attachment tail 18 of the valve or else the valve body 12 and the attachment 2% may be made integral with each other as taught in U.S. Patent 3,315,693.

The enlarged upper portion 16 of the valve body 12 is affixed within a valve housing 22, by crimping the side wall of the housing about it, as at 24.

The anyside-up attachment 20 has two tandemly or adjacently arranged chambers 26 and 28. Chamber 28 receives the dip tube attachment tail 18 of the valve body 12. Its wall preferably has an annular anchoring ring 30 which snaps over an annular notch 32 of the dip tube attachment tail 18. Thus, once fastened to the tail, there is an integral-like leak-proof connection between the valve and the attachment.

Chamber 26 is a by-pass chamber and has a bypass ball 34 in it which is retained therein by an inwardly protruding annular lip 36.

Both chambers communicate with a second clip tube attachment tail 38 via passageways 40 and 42. A dip tube 46 is afiixed either to the inside or the outside of the dip tube tail 38 and extends into the aerosol container.

In operation, the valve 10 is opened by depressing the valve stem 14. When the aerosol container is in an upright position, the product and the propellant flow through the dip tube 46, the dip tube attachment tail 38 of the attachment 20, through passageway 40 into chamber 28, then up through the customary dip tube attachment tail 18 and out through valve stem 14 and the valve button 48 affixed to its end. The by-pass ball 34 is seated on ball seat 50 and, therefore, no product nor propellant flows out through chamber 26.

When the aerosol container is inverted, the by-pass ball 34 drops, under its own weight, to the top of the chamber 3 26 where it is retained by the lip 36. The walls of the chamber 26 are polygonal or square so that the product and the propellant freely flow around the ball 34 and into the chamber 26. It then flows through passageways 42 and 40 into chamber 28, and from chamber 28 it flows out of the valve, in the manner described above.

When the aerosol container is again positioned upright, the ball 34 again seats on the ball seat 50 to prevent the product and the propellant from flowing through the passageway 42 into the chamber 26.

It may be noted that the dip tube 46 is afiixed to the dip tube attachment tail 38 of the attachment 20 at a position which is off-center from the axis of the valve 10. As indicated above, with existing aerosol valves which for some reason have the dip tubes aflixed to them in an offcenter position, as in the case of the valve 10, the valve needs to be indexed in order to permit such connections to be made. In high speed assembly apparatus, this results in considerably expense to the manufacture.

The above problem is eliminated by providing the attachment with a funnel-like opening 50 with a tapering end wall 54 leading into a generally cylindrical dip tube well 52 in the tail 38 of the attachment 20.

As can be best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, with this construction, when the end of the dip tube 46 is advanced up wardly by the assembly apparatus (not shown), the end thereof engages the tapered end wall 54. As continued advancement of the dip tube occurs, its end slides along the tapered end wall 54 and is urged into the dip tube well 52. An annular retaining ring 58 may be provided in the dip tube well 52 to fixedly secure the dip tube 46 therein. Accordingly, it can be seen that as far as the assembly apparatus is concerned, it is immaterial that the dip tube well 52 is off-center from the axis of the valve for the tapered end wall 54 will deflect the end of the dip tube 46 into the dip tube well 52.

To enable outside attachment of a dip tube and to retain the benefits attained by this invention, a thickened wall portion 39 is built into tail 38. This provides a center line for the attachment which coincides with the center line of the valve so that on-center attachment of a dip tube to the outside tail 38 is possible.

While the invention is described in use with an anysideup attachment for aerosol valves, it should be apparent that it is equally applicable for use with an anyside-up aerosol valve which is a combination of said attachment and an ordinary aerosol valve, or for use with any type aerosol valve which must be tubed off the center line of the valve.

A beveled wall portion can be provided for the walls of the dip tube well 52a, as shown in FIG. 5. Thus dilferent diameter dip tubes can thereby be used. The dip tube need merely be forced down into the dip tube well 52 to the point where it is wedged therein.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above among those made apparent from the preceding description, are ei'ficiently attained, and since certain changes may be made in the above article with departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Now that the invention has been described, what is claimed is:

1. Adapter means for application of a dip tube to an off-center valve therefor without having to index said valve comprising a one-piece body member opposite end portions, one of said end portions provided with a bore therein adapted to receive said valve, the other of said end portions provided with a funnel-like opening leading into a dip tube well, said funnel-like opening having fluid communication with said bore, said funnel-like opening being eccentrically located with respect to said bore, said funnel-like opening having at least one smooth wall thereof provided with a continuously angularly tapered surface to deflect the end of a dip tube whose central axis initially coincides with the central axis of said bore toward and into said well, said one wall intersecting the center line of said bore, said body having a thickened wall portion at leasct partially intersecting the center line of said bore, and means in said well to affix the end of said dip tube to said adapter.

2. The adapter means of claim 1 wherein said well has an annular anchoring ring formed about its peripheral wall for engaging and securing said di-p tube therein.

3. The adapted means for claim 1 wherein the walls of said well are beveled, whereby said dip tube is secured therein by a wedge action.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,121,984 6/1938 Rieger et al. 285l78 X 2,746,772 5/1956 Race et al 2855 3,148,895 9/1964 Jasper et al. 285-423 X 3,315,693 4/1967 Braun 137-43 FOREIGN PATENTS 78,938 8/ 1962 France.

CARL W. TOMLlN, Primary Examiner D. W. AROLA, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

